Committee of Senior Budget Officials (SBO) Ms. Kelly Kinneen

1. What is the mission and mandate of your Committee?

The mission and mandate of the SBO is to ensure fiscal sustainability and effective resource allocation through proper budgetary governance and management. In other words, the SBO fosters engagement with budget officials from Members and non-Members to work through complex budgetary issues, promote transparency, support multifaceted policy goals like addressing climate change and other activities, while encouraging a global dialogue.

2. You have been designated Committee Chair. What is your background and what has convinced you to take up this post? How do you consider your background and experience contribute to such a role and function?

I have been at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) since 2006. I started my career at OMB as an analyst on pension and retirement issues -- a primary driver of expenditures in almost every OECD country – which led to an interest in budget and fiscal policy more broadly. But even more importantly, I found at OMB an alignment between what I love to do – which is bring together people with disparate and even conflicting interests to solve hard problems – and the very role of a budget institution. My career at OMB has been a series of progression to roles that allow me to think enterprise and government-wide about how to create partnerships and collaboration amidst ever-present conflicts over constrained resources. I became OMB’s senior career budget official in 2017.

As chair of the SBO, I have the opportunity to do much the same thing I do at OMB, but with budget officials from all over the world.

3. What is your main priority as Chair?

In the near term, my main priority is to simply give senior budget officials a network to connect after the hardest few years that many of us have ever had. Budget institutions delivered historical levels of fiscal stimulus at incredible speed while still maintaining a responsibility for ensuring high levels of performance and transparency. To paraphrase an SBO colleague, "We used to have an ’off’ season. Not anymore." Having a forum (and time) to step back, reflect, and learn together has never felt so critical.

4. How would you define the added value of your Committee in relation to the work of the OECD in an international context? How does it differ from other international fora dealing with the same topic?

The Committee acts to help countries to Spend Better. Current and emerging fiscal pressures will require many countries to examine their levels of spending and taxation, and prompt discussions about how best to reallocate funding from lower to higher priorities. This will test the quality of our budget institutions like never before. The Committee is an unparalleled forum for budget directors to engage in a frank and open exchange

of views in this regard. We commission surveys, reviews and analysis on a wide range of budgetary governance issues. We then develop best practices that are used as benchmarks by countries to spur reforms. The work of the Committee is entirely practitioner-driven.

5. Are you facing any specific major challenge derived from the current multilateral environment?

We are not facing any such challenges. Co-operation among our Member countries and beyond through our Regional SBO Networks is stronger than ever.

6. How do you encourage, and ensure national experts engage productively in the work of your Committee?

The SBO has long relied on national experts to engage with us and our work. At our annual SBO Conference in June, U.S. Federal budgeting expert Allen Schick presented a retrospective on his long career and his thoughts on the future of the field. It is important for us to engage with experts in much of our work, similar to how many of us engage with them in our respective countries, and we are always looking for opportunities to do so.

7. How do you help maximise policy coherence through the work of the Committee?

Although national budgetary practices are defined by varying constitutional arrangements, legal frameworks, economic circumstances and political traditions, the underlying principles are remarkably similar across countries. As such, there is a natural coherence to the work of the Committee. We as budget directors form a very cohesive group. We are also supported by three Working Parties as well as informal groups that prepare specialized topics prior to discussion by the Committee.

8. How do you ensure effective decision making by the Committee?

The SBO is composed of thoughtful and dedicated individuals who have established a culture of collaboration and effectiveness. While I do my best to contribute to this, I am directly benefiting from my predecessors here, even before the SBO was an official Committee. In addition to this community spirit, the SBO has an excellent Bureau to assist in the decision-making process.

9. Could you mention the most important documents/reports that the Committee/Group has issued in the last 2 years? Why are these important and what has been their impact?

I’m excited by the Spending Better framework that the Secretariat presented at the recent SBO conference in Oslo. It presents a set of norms for budget institutions to strive for and grapple with as we think about our role in addressing the financial and economic challenges of the post-COVID era. Strong, credible budget institutions will need to be at the center of efforts to stabilize Federal balance sheets and present the right set of tradeoffs to political leadership.

10. How can you encourage synergies between policy communities?

As a relatively new chair, my initial goal has just been to familiarize myself with all the many streams of work at the OECD, ask a lot of questions, and listen. The potential for collaboration and mutual learning is what drew me to work with the SBO, and I look forward to future opportunities to engage with other policy leaders.

11. How do you see the role played by the Secretariat?

The Committee and the Secretariat are two sides of the same coin; one could not function without the other. The work the Secretariat produces relies on close co-operation with officials in Member countries and the Secretariat is very closely engaged with Delegates throughout the year. The Secretariat also has a key role

in identifying emerging issues based on these interactions and also to take account of differing points of views among Delegates as we move forward. There is a high degree of trust between the Committee and the Secretariat.

12. In relation to the standard-setting role, what do you suggest to maintain the relevance and impact of OECD standards over time? Which areas need strengthening?

N/A

13. How have you ensured a contribution of your actions or influence to continuous improvement within the Organisation?

I am very keen on learning from others and to contribute our experiences to the continuous improvement process at the OECD. In particular, I would like to highlight the development of the Regional SBO Networks as our principal vehicle for engaging with non-Members. In short, we have "replicated" our Committee in four regional networks across the globe. This is the foundation of our Global Relations Strategy. I strongly believe the Delegates to the Committee itself and the participants in the Regional SBO Networks have benefitted greatly from this arrangement. This successful innovation could be a model for Committees across the Organization.

14. What are the practical implications of the work of your Committee/Group?

I can give an example from my own country. After our recent SBO conference in Oslo and the presentation of the Spending Betterframework, OMB staff have started to discuss how the framework applies in the U.S. context, and where we see opportunities to strengthen our practices.

15. What would be your key advice to a person taking up the post of Chair of an OECD Committee/Group?

I’m so new to the role that I’d hesitate to give anyone advice, but I can say that my goal is to help steer our Committee into open and honest dialogue about our successes, failures, and challenges so that we can learn from each other, bring new ideas back to our countries and our institutions, and ultimately help our governments work more effectively.